Despite the availability and effectiveness of personal protective equipment (PPE) (e.g., safety glasses such as goggles, hard hats, ventilation masks, gloves, etc.), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that each day more than 100 eye injuries occur on the job. On the job injuries can result in lost time at work, significant financial losses to employers, employees, and/or society through long-term disability, and/or human suffering. Some of these losses from on the job eye injuries can be prevented by proper use of PPE such as safety goggles.
Mandated compliance with workplace safety rules may not be enforced effectively. For example, in general a supervisor physically walks around a manufacturing floor to verify an employee has the proper PPE. This approach can be time intensive and inaccurate, as it does not verify PPE usage for users outside the visual range of the supervisor.